Shudder Day: Urban Legends- Final Cut (aka Urban Legend 2)

 Let's end the Month with a Sequel that somehow did better and worse than the Original.

Before it went Direct to DVD, we got...

In a Film School (a year after the last Film), we follow a young lady played by Jennifer Morrison.

She's the Daughter of a Documentarian (who is sadly not Werner Herzog), but doesn't want to follow in his footsteps.

Instead, she's inspired to make a Horror Film after talking to the Security Guard- the same one from the last Film, who says that she got fired during the coverup.

So now she's going to make a Horror Film about Urban Legends...in a Sequel to a Horror Film about Urban Legends...called Urban Legends.

Clean up that nosebleed- we have some dead meats to deal with!

This random lady is friends with Morrison's would-be-boyfriend, so she's abducted and killed after being subject to the 'Waking up in the tub with your kidney stolen' UL.

The majority of the kills take place during the production of Morrison's Film.

After a day of shooting with a terrible Actress (who is also going to Film School?), the lady is killed by the murderer going full Peeping Tom.

Ironic, considering that the Film is a love letter to Hitchcock and many people claim Michael Powell's Peeping Tom is *better* than Psycho.

Why the Fencing Mask though?

The killer goes after Morrison next when she gets too close to the truth.

She gets a video tape of them killing her Director of Photography, so he scares her dressed as...Mac Tonight?

Without the evidence, he can keep up the killing.

The arrival of her would-be-boyfriend's twin (another Hitchcock homage) doesn't do much to save her Special Effects Guys and Eva Mendes.

Mendes- like Reid in the last Film- is killed off-camera, which feels like a twist setup...but isn't.  At all.

Can she unmask the killer?
Will this one also deliver some failed Sequel Bait?

Stream it now to find out.

A Sequel that is both more fun and definitely dumber in many ways.

The obvious thing- this Film isn't really about Urban Legends all that much.
It is actually about someone MAKING A FILM about Urban Legends...which is just the last Film.

In this case, the Film turns much into Film Tropes and is all about Filmmaking.

I'm a Film Nerd, so it worked for me.
I can't speak to whether or not this works for you.

As a Slasher Film goes, it checks all of the boxes.
It has the kills.
The dead meats.
The tension.
The Set Pieces.

Honestly, from a purely aesthetic point of view, this one is better.  It has a variety of Sets, as opposed to just different locations on a real College.

(It uses a different College and Sets)

That said, the overall quality and commitment to Theme is a bit weaker than the first Film.  So this one is possibly more fun (if you like the Film stuff), but not as good.

That said, it was Directed by John Ottman, who has won an Oscar (for Editing a Bryan Singer Film, mind you), so I can't look down on it too much.

A Sequel that thankfully does some things quite differently.  That said, the whole 'Urban Legend' thing takes a backseat to Film Homages.

Tubi Thursday: Famous Ghost Stories (1961)

 Are you a fan of Ghost Stories?
What about Vincent Price?
Bert I. Gordon Films?

Well, I'm into all of that, so I streamed...

This was an unsold TV Pilot made in 1961.

We first see this House, which I assume is about to be stomped by Godzilla.

Price appears twice here, which is weird.

First as himself and then he appears as a Poltergeist (not that one) who wants to tell us some Ghost Stories- Famous ones at that!

See you at the End and never before, Mr. Price.

The Story follows a man (The Creature from The Black Lagoon's Richard Carlson) who is haunted by guilt, as he didn't try to save his Girlfriend Vi from falling, since she wouldn't let him leave her and get married.

He'd start to see weird things in the coming days, as his Fiancee and her Sister (played by Bert's Daughter).

Nobody else does.

As he learns that Vi, now a Ghost, will not leave him be, another wrinkle appears.

This guy- who took Vi to the Island- now wants to blackmail.

Why can't you trust this guy?

He's also a Ghost!

Well, not here.

He's Lloyd the Bartender from The Shining!

He's killed in this one, so is this canon to the King Tale?

Carlson can't seem to make his troubles go away.

Vi grows in power and vows to stop his happiness!

Now here's the real twist.

You ready?

This is just 1960's Tormented (also by Bert I. Gordon).
He just got Price to shoot the Intro and tried to resell this as a TV Show.

As a Film Buff, I should have seen through this.

Somehow, I have never seen Tormented, either as its own thing, on MST3K or on Rifftrax.
IMDB isn't much help, as the page for this says, 'You Might Also Like Tormented.'

Well, yeah, I'm watching it, aren't I?!?

The actual content is pretty good, if reliant on many of the same tricks over and over again.  After the 15th time something happens that only you can see, would you really still mention it to someone?

Price's part here does help, but he's only here for the Intro and Outro.  Would it have killed you to pick a Film that he was also in, Bert?!?

There are some good, silly effects on hand here.  It is still a Bert I. Gordon Film.

Do you pick this or Tormented?
This is the same, just with Price in the Intro and Outro, but also with the illusion of being a Show.  Having Price tease next week's Episode was genius.

Speaking of teases, the same Producer wanted to make a Show where famous Voice Actor Paul Frees interviews...Adolf Hitler?!?

Too soon?  Yes.

A Film so nice that Bert I. Gordon tried to sell it twice!  Honestly, it is pretty decent, but just know that this failed piece of TV History is a Copy-Paste job.

Streaming Standard: M3GAN (2022)

 Yes, I was the one Online Film Critic who never saw M3GAN.

Well, that is in the past now...

A young girl tragically loses her Parents in a car accident.

She ends up with her Aunt, who is a Scientist who makes robotics.

When they fail to bond, she is inspired to finish creating Megan.

The highly advanced robot becomes the girl's companion.

They share stories, secrets and everything is looking up!

Of course, this is a Horror Film and this is a possibly-evil Doll.

Things take a turn when the Neighbor's Dog attacks Megan and the girl.

Revenge is nigh!

Megan was also made with no digital barriers for how she would learn and how she could act on them.

Will she get too powerful...and smart?

It's certainly not a SPOILER to say that Megan kills some people.

The question is who she kills.

And yes, there is 'That Dance.'

It is funny to finally see that bit in context.

To find out how exactly you solve a problem like a Megan, stream it now (on Peacock at time of writing).

A Film that is honestly better- and quite different- than promised.

Killer Dolls and their ilk have been a thing for many, many Decades.  You can track evil Dolls back to the 1940s!

Hell, we got a girl Chucky as the 1990s began.

What this Film does well is honestly work as a Drama if you just cut out all of the murder.  Like The Bababook, it is a Film known for Horror, but it does so much more.

The little girl is far more tolerable than the kid in the other Film though.

You really feel for the people involved, save for the obvious 'Dead Meat' Characters.  Every Horror Film has them, after all.

Did this one live up to the hype?  Yes.

As a total package, the Film doesn't break new ground per se, but makes the most of its premise all the same.

Leave it to Japan to tweak the Poster ever so slightly...

It's probably not their change, but just go with it.

A killer Doll/Robot Film that is actually more than what was promised.  Maybe I'll have to check out the Sequel sooner rather than later.

Shudder Day: Urban Legend (1998)

 After a semi-revival of '90s Slasher Films in the last few years (like Scream and I Know What You Did Last Summer), let's look back at a forgotten one that came out too...

In the Opening Scene, a lady (who really shouldn't sing on camera) is killed after leaving a Gas Station.

The Owner- Brad Dourif- tries to warn her, but fails (due to his stutter).

She's killed via axe to the neck (which somehow doesn't make the moving car crash).

At Pendleton College, the death sends shockwaves through the students, in spite of the Dean (John Neville) trying to suppress the news.

All of our Leads just happen to be taking a Class on Urban Legends, taught by Robert Englund.

Will this somehow play into the one murder we saw so far that was based on one?

It does!

A mysterious killer is trying to recreate the various ones that perpetuated society before Snopes went around ruining things.

Hook hand killer by a tree?  Gangs flashing lights for a hit?  Roommate killed while the lights were out?
All here.

Our Final Girl (Alicia Witt from Dune and Twin Peaks) is hiding a secret and also kind of has the hots for Jared Leto here.

Will she survive Morbin' Time?

The kills escalate (especially in Act 3) and the Plot thickens.

Why is the killer targeting (but also not Witt)?
Is her dark secret the reason?

Or did the killer just want them to stop making American Pie Films?

It was the first one.

Witt was riding with her friend and they accidentally caused an accident that killed her buddy's boyfriend.

Said girl went crazy, killed a dozen people and...lived to kill again in a different School?

Wow- dark Ending, my man!

A Film that is honestly pretty good, even if it is just my soft spot for these kinds of Films.

This one has a decent gimmick and a nice Cast of dead meats (and Genre Legends).
They also commit to the mystery of who the killer is pretty well.

Some of the jokes and references will probably fly past viewers who didn't follow '90s Culture though.  That Dawson's Creek joke, for instance.

As a whodunnit, the Film is honestly pretty fair.  You can't always say that about these Films.

The kills have a pretty visceral thrill to them and some nice variety.  Maybe it is just watching 6 Scream Films that made me tired of knife stabbings, I guess.

Was this good enough to spawn a Sequel and a spin-off (see below)?  I guess making 5 times your Budget says yes (even if a Reboot was cancelled in 2020).

While this is mostly just Scream with sprinkles on it, they are fun sprinkles all the same.

A Film that will feel very familiar in the best and worst ways.  That said, you can do far worse as far as Slasher Films go.

Remake This?: The Day The Earth Stood Still (2008)

 After covering a 1950s Classic, let me cover the Remake of a DIFFERENT 1950s Classic!

This is The Day the Earth Stood Still, the 2008 Remake by Fox to be exact.
Did this feel need a Remake?

To be fair, CGI (and computers as we know them) didn't exist when that Film was made.  I can see the appeal to a modern Director.

That's not addressing the idea that you SHOULD Remake it, of course.
If you are going to remake any 1950s Sci-Fi Film, it should be The Giant Claw- it needs one!

If you don't know, the Plot involves an alien ship, a giant robot and a messenger.  
Does this one improve things and/or do its own thing?

To find out, Klaatu barada nikto on...

After a strange Opening Scene involving a man (Keanu Reeves) finding a glowing thing in the snow, we meet out Heroine.

Jennifer Connely plays a Professor/Researcher living in Washington D.C.

Insert Topical Joke about Trump Invasion of DC here.

It is here that we meet the Film's villain- at least according to 9 out of 10 IMDB Reviews.

Jaden Smith plays her Stepson, so presumably she was married to Will (who did turn down the Reeves role here).

Can I make it head canon that he's actually Will Smith from Independence Day?

She's suddenly pulled into a Government mission and placed on a helicopter full of other experts/scientists/people.

What are they there to deal with?

A glowing space ball- naturally!

They think it might be a Meteor, but then it slows down naturally, which is not a thing that they do.

It lands in Central Park and floats there as the military and people (Scientist in Hazmat suits, but nobody else!) surround it.

The Government folks really freak out when GORT appears.

In this version, he's a 28-foot robot that was clearly the inspiration for the 2014 version of the Sentinels in X-Men: Days of Future Past.

He keeps the military guys at bay, but...

Connelly runs across a glowing guy near the orb...but he got shot.

They take it/him to a Doctor, who reveals a human body underneath the glowing flesh sac (I hope you don't eat while you read this).

It turns into Reeves (since I guess the Aliens copied him from earlier) and he manages to escape the facility, showing off vague, Plot-driven powers in the process.

He ends up with Connelly, who agrees to take him places while things go down.

She also tries to convince that humanity should be spared, as the Aliens are going to wipe us out to save the Planet.

The Military take GORT (which is namedropped only once) into a base, but it is still clearly in control.

It breaks out and destroys the facility by turning into millions (if not billions) of nanite bugs!

This likely inspired a DIFFERENT Film in which Megatron can turn into a swarm of nanites.

Connelly continues to try and get Reeves to agree that humanity needs saving.

It doesn't help her case that she drags Jaden along with them!

Eventually, however, Reeves sees that humanity is special, braves the nanite swam cloud and stops it, saving the World and leaving forever (or until a possible Sequel that doesn't exist).

A Film with big heart, big goals and clearly quite big budget.
They spent $80 million on this (not adjusted for inflation) and it shows.

The Film is chock full of CGI, explosions and the like.

The Film does try to really have a deeper message- humanity can better itself.

This comes between exploding drones, firefights and light shows, mind you.

Director Scott Derickson- of Dr. Strange fame- does a good job here honestly.  The Film just has so much going on and it is not always connected.

I'm very glad that Reeves took another role from Will Smith (he turned down The Matrix) as his style of Acting really works for the slow and gradual changes his character goes through.

Everyone here is really trying, even a surprising performance by John Cleese in a serious role!  

I do feel a bit bad picking on a kid Actor (even if it is Jaden Smith), but the Film HINGES upon you caring about him and how his relationship growth with Connelly affects the Plot.

He's...not good, so try to power through the Film around him.
He's also a Narc, so...

Next up, I happened to buy a Ninja Turtles Movie Set right before the Anniversary.  Let's just jump right into the Films, shall we?  Stay tuned...

Tubi Thursday: The Comeback (1978)

In 2025, you can pull up a device and see the Trailer for any Film coming out.

In 1978, you had to rely on a Poster to sell you.

This one still works today...

In a long Opening Scene, this woman goes into a Building, looks around a Penthouse and is then attacked by a strange, old woman with a blade!

Like Dario Argento, the Director of the Film plays the killer in this Scene.

We soon learn that this woman was married to our Lead- Jack Jones- who is her very-recent ex-Husband.

He's returned to the Music World after 6 years (how long they were married) ...

He's given a nice place in the Countryside to work on the Album, with two old people as Caretakers.

More importantly, a young woman- who acts as his Assistant- is far more fetching than anyone!

A relationship buds between them, while his weird friend Harry wants him to go to the Penthouse from the beginning.

Nick hears weird sounds at night and looks around for the source, finding nothing.

After a second night of strange noises and seeing a rotting face (bear in mind he doesn't know that the ex-Wife is dead), he's more concerned than ever.

He tries to keep working on the Album though as his grip on sanity fades.

Can he figure out what is going on?
Can he finish the Album?

Why does it smell like gaslight?

To find out, stream the Film now.

A Film that holds up pretty well, even if many Scenes tend to drag a bit.

This is very much a '70s Film, so get used to lots of walking around, tension building and sudden reactions.

Is this my favorite thing?  No.
Do I hate it?  No.

The actual Plot is honestly kind of sparse, really getting by on these long shots and vague moments.  If you cut it down to the purely Plot stuff, it is not going to be 90 minutes.

Having said that, it is interesting to see Films like this.  This is a proto-Slasher Film, just with a much smaller body count.

Is it the only Film to feature bloody murder, masked killers and the guy who sang The Theme to The Love Boat?  Yes.

Amusingly, Jones' final Film appearance was also in a Film about a Singer...

A Film that will please fans of the older, more atmospheric Thrillers.  Just know that there's not much meat on the bone, as it were.